AVO is a very extended family. Some people work full time for the observatory, others well under half time.
Others perform essential work, but only draw operating expenses. Several agencies contribute personnel at several
locations. A wide variety of disciplines are represented, including geophysics, geology, glaciology, hydrology,
geochemistry, remote sensing, computing, electronics, and administration. The following people are the paid staff,
and share among themselves about 22 Full Time Equivalent positions.

Rick has been a Research Geophysicist for AVO at the USGS in Anchorage since 2003. His research focuses on understanding volcano and glacier dynamics using remote sensing as the main tool. His remote sensing work uses a wide range of high resolution satellite and airborne data in the visible, shortwave infrared, thermal infrared, and radar. Rick is also involved in NASA funded research studying Earth analogues of features on Mars.

Before joining AVO, Rick was at the USGS-Flagstaff office working as an Arizona State University Post-Doc on the Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS) project.